Vengeance is a dish best served extra flamey
by Kojiro1
Summary: An alternate universe sorta thing... what if Willow took the job of vengeance demon offered to her at the end of `Something Blue?`
1. Part one

In answer to Bigmouth's fanfic challenge:  
Summary: Willow takes the job of vengeance demon offered to her by D'Hoffryn at the end of `Something Blue.`  
Rating: A PG just to be sure.  
Disclaimer: It's not mine! None of it! The idea's Bigmouth's, the characters are Joss Whedon's.  
It's starting off as a comedy-drama type thing, much as Buffy is now, and I have a feeling it'll get very Oz/Willow shippy. There are some Buffy/Spike moments, too, but only because the spell in the episode is never broken.  
Feedback is a mythical creature. Prove its existance to me: blue@team-rocket.net or dittoblue30@yahoo.co.uk  
This is but part one, more to come soon...  
  
  
Her mind was racing. What was she doing? Agreeing to spread pain and hurt? No. She was tired of being Willow, the sweet one, the innocent little girl. Just for once, she could do whatever she wanted… all that power she'd always needed could be hers to control, to use however she wanted… all the pain of the last few weeks, the sting of Oz's departure could be wiped out. All she needed to do was to say…  
"…You know what? I will." replied Willow.  
"Excellent!" crowed D'Hoffryn. "When are you free to start?"  
"About right now, I guess…"   
"You, my dear, will make a fine vengeance demon. Please follow me for the ritual."  
"Um, will I be me afterwards? Or will it be like when I was a skanky evil vampire?" she asked shakily.  
"You will be a little you. But a touch more evil." D'Hoffryn gently pushed her into a circle chalked on the floor, and lit a large black, twisted candle in the centre.  
"Oh, see, evil I don't do…" she said, starting out of the circle.  
"Too late, I'm afraid. The ritual has begun."  
"But I… I…"  
A blinding flash of light, and it was a different world for Willow.  
  
"A little help here!" Xander screamed at Buffy, who was more than a little preoccupied with Spike. The demon he was hanging on to roared and shook him off, knocking Xander and Anya across the room with its large claws. Pulling herself up, Anya shouted "Burn it! It's the only way!" Xander raised an eyebrow.  
"Now you tell us. Where was this information ten minutes ago?" Anya scowled at him, and crawled over to Spike and Buffy. Kicking Buffy's leg as a friendly greeting, she yelled at Spike. "You have a lighter, right? You're one of those horrible nicotine people."  
"Sorry for the interruption, babe." Spike grinned to Buffy, and making a face at Anya, he pulled a silver cigarette lighter out of his pocket and threw it at her. "Here. Now sod off." Buffy pouted. "You're so selfish, Anya. It's always `We have to kill the demon that's killing me!` We were busy, y'know."  
"Let's not pout." cooed Spike.   
"OK, sweetie!" smiled Buffy, getting over any traces of anger she had rather quickly.   
Meanwhile, Xander was throwing things at the demon, bits of rock, sticks, anything he could find. "Any time now, Anya! Even though I have all day here…"  
"Oh, be a little more patient." She twisted a piece of old newspaper from the floor into a torch shape, and lit it.   
"Hah!" she yelled, lunging at the demon.   
"Not so big and freaky now, are you, Mr. Not So Big And Freaky!" Xander said triumphantly, barely noticing his lame joke. The demon made a yelping noise as Anya pushed the burning torch nearer and nearer to his face. Avoiding Buffy and Spike, who were still writhing on the floor, it dashed out of the crypt. Xander sighed deeply. "Well, thanks for the help, you guys." He said to the odd couple.  
"Maybe I should burn them instead. It would make us all feel better." Anya thought aloud, waving about the burning torch like a baton.  
"Let's not."  
"You may be correct. Murder may hinder my growing friendship with Buffy."  
"Possibly. Charred skin and melting flesh can ruin a blossoming relationship." replied Xander, with a small grin. Sighing, he pulled Buffy off Spike, and headed towards the door with her in tow. Buffy whimpered slightly.   
"Trust me, you'll thank me when this weirdness stops. Come on, Anya needs to summon that D'Hoffryn guy." He was about to walk through the door, when a shape blocked his way. A shape in a tight top and leather skirt.  
"W-w-willow?" stammered Xander. Willow smiled, ruby lipstick catching the firelight from Anya's torch. She flashed her teeth briefly.  
"Waah, not Willow, evil vampire Willow!" Xander backed away hurriedly, dropping Buffy and tripping over Anya's foot.  
"I'm not a vampire, silly." She purred.  
"Ah, that's OK, then."  
"I'm a vengeance demon."  
"Less OK! Less OK!"  
Xander ducked behind Anya, who stared at the new demon indignantly.   
"Hey! You can't be a vengeance demon! That's my thing! Your thing is the witch thing, not the demon thing!"  
Buffy looked Willow directly in the eyes. "A demon?"  
"A demon." Replied Willow smugly. "Guess I'm not the sweet and innocent one anymore, huh? I'm over Oz, and causin' a whole bunch of hurt. Hurt not for me, but for others, which is a better hurt."  
"Is this all because of Oz?"  
"Mostly, yup." She shook her head rapidly, and as her hair swirled around, her face had changed, like a vampire's does. Her new visage wasn't so pretty, it was purple and cracked, twisted, even.   
"He left me, Buffy! He saw me crying, and he knew how much it hurt me! And he left! How could he?" she snarled angrily.  
Anya frowned. "I looked prettier than that, at least."  
Buffy, tears in her eyes, gently took Willow's hand. "Just… look at yourself. Look at what you've become…"  
Spike rolled his eyes. "Oh, get over it! She's become immortal and powerful! What could be better? Just be pleased for her, OK? Anyway, we still need to pick out bridesmaid's dresses." He started to stalk towards the door. "Do we still need one for her?" he asked, pointing his thumb at Willow, who was still snarling and purple. "because it's just Anya if not, you know."  
Anya gasped. "I'm a bridesmaid? Wow. What a wonderful way of showing your friendship!" She turned to Xander. "See, I'm glad I didn't burn her now. But I'm not wearing pink, even if it is your wedding."  
"I was planning on using a more peachy colour, or possibly lilac…" replied Buffy, dropping Willow's hand.  
"Lilac I'll do, not peach."  
"We never said peach, love!" protested Spike.  
"Can we get back to the growly purple situation at hand here?" yelled Xander, stepping up next to Willow. He turned to face her, gently. "This isn't the Will I grew up with… the Will who slayed vampires with us… the Will who I lov…" he cut himself off sharply. "The point is, you're not you."  
Willow looked at him sharply. "The Willow you knew is gone! She was hurt and destroyed so many times… it's over for her. Now I'm demon-y, and nasty, and extra mean! And I have a score to settle with Oz!" She folded her arms, and relaxed, her face falling back into it's human form.  
Speechless, Buffy exchanged a glance with Xander, who shook his head quickly, and grabbed Willow's arm.  
"No. See, I can't let you do that. We need you, Willow!"  
"Yeah, well, you shoulda though of that before." She sniffed, and snapped her fingers, making her exit in a puff of smoke. Xander was left holding nothing.  
The remaining Scoobies looked at one another silently, until Spike broke the silence.  
"Reckon Red'll really go after wolf-boy?"  
Buffy looked at the floor intensely. "I think it'll be her first stop." More tears formed in her eyes. "We have to stop her, destroy her power source like we did with Anya." The tears fell to the ground silently.  
Xander put an arm around her shoulders. "Let's go tell Giles. We need to contact Oz, warn him." he said shakily.  
Anya snorted. "Probably too late. If that was me, his brains would have been sucked out through a straw by now. Tch, it's so unfair…"  
Spike started out of the crypt door again, saying, "Well, if you want to end her roller-coaster ride of happiness and power, I'm behind you a hundred percent. Anything for you, slayer."  
Buffy smiled, tears gone. "This is why I love you, Spikey. You're so sensitive."  
Xander shook his head again. "We have to break this spell first, before I shoot myself. Or them."  



	2. Part two

The rush of power was amazing to her, she felt like a Goddess. She could do anything, be anything, do *things* to other people… like Oz. She could finally hurt him like he hurt her, finally do what she had a hidden desire to do since he left. She could have revenge. And who better to give revenge than the newly born vengeance demon Willow? Of course, part of her was still good, telling her that revenge is wrong, and that killing Oz horribly wouldn't solve anything… but that part of her could be ignored, she reasoned. The evil in her had been let out after years of lying in wait, and it wasn't about to stop yet. And after Oz, there was always Xander, and then, the ones she's called to by their wronged lovers. Hmm. A busy time ahead indeed. But she felt ready.   
Then she felt that she should get a personal planner, or some sticky notes or something.  
  
"Giles? It's Anya. I have some very important, life-changing news for you."  
The blinded ex-Watcher sighed dramatically. "What is it now, Anya? Have Spike and Buffy chosen their honeymoon destination?"  
"No. Willow's a vengeance demon. But, more importantly, I get to be a bridesmaid for Buffy! And I get to wear lilac!"  
"Ahh… please rewind a little there… Willow's a demon?"  
"Yeah, purple, snarly, leather skirt, the works. Buffy, Spike and Xander are on the way over, they'll fill you in. But, anyway, what do you think about me in lilac? Would it go with my hair colour?"  
"Um… of course… demon, was that?"  
"But I did have the option of peach, d'you think I should have taken it?"  
  
An unlikely trio were jogging quickly over the grass to Giles' house. A Slayer, besotted with a vampire, who had proposed not so long ago, was considering both her best friend's new demon-ish career, and her big wedding. Mostly the wedding. A dropout was considering how to remove the slayer from the vampire for a while, or at least long enough to come up with a plan to turn Willow back into her good-natured self. A vampire had mostly either forgotten or simply not cared about Willow's demon-ness, and was mentally working out a wedding invitation list. Since he'd killed most of the people he knew, it wasn't a long one.  
  
Oz was sorting through boxes of his stuff, the stuff he called for from his dorm. It had been a tough struggle to decide whether or not to call Willow, but in the end, he figured that phoning her may only have added to the pain, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her even more. He should be back. Soon. All he needed to do was get his head on straight once more, work out what he was going to do. Oh, and sort out the whole lycantropy thing, that was a biggie too. He missed his home, his friends, his college, but mostly, he missed his Willow. Every part of him wanted to go back to him, but he knew, deep down, that it would be the worst thing he could do… what if he wolfed out and hurt her? Or worse? He shuddered a little at the thought of that last night with Veruca, if Buffy hadn't entered with the tranquilliser, he'd have…  
No. No time to think about that now. Have to sort things out. Have to have a direction. Have to cure the curse, and then, have to go back. Soon.  
  
"Darnit." Cursed Willow. Well, not really cursed, she was still partially herself, after all. "They should tell you how hard it is to find a person who hasn't called on you… I should so have some special demon radar screen, or something, but no, the darn demon dimension-y thing doesn't even have the darn budget for that." She slammed the phone book back on the tiny table. She was, at that moment, somewhere in LA, at a payphone, looking in vain hope for Oz in the directory. It was pretty much a given that he wouldn't be there, but it was worth a try. "And they could've told me how to work these special demon-y powers!" she snarled, hitting the table with her fist. A small mongrel dog looked at her interestedly.   
"I mean, I'm not asking for a darn instruction manual, but they could've said, like, `wiggle your nose`, or `click your heels`, or `think happy thoughts` or something!" her hand slammed into the table again, a crack spread across the flimsy wood. The dog cocked its head to one side. Humans are strange, it thought. They break things, and howl in a funny way, and turn purple. I wonder why? Giving up its attempt to dissect the human psyche, the dog trotted off into the night to chase some rats and eat old fruit, which was probably more useful than anything Willow managed to do. After a failure to find him that involved checking all of the phone books in most of the main states, (as vengeance demons can easily skip long distances, this was one of the powers she had discovered) and a finding spell that ended in a wrecked hotel room and large chunks of molten ceiling sizzling through the floor down into the room below, the demon Willow was getting angry. There had to be a way to get to him, any way…  
  
As Willow the new born demon was catching up on her phone book reading, there had been a session at Giles' house. It had involved lots of Buffy and Spike smoochage, lots of Xander telling Giles that for once, it wasn't his fault, and lots of Anya sulking about not being the demon any more. Giles wasn't entirely sure if it was a bad thing that he couldn't see, whenever Buffy and Spike were together these days, blindness was a blessing.  
"We need to get our priorities in order." said the Watcher, casting a glare at what he hoped was Buffy and Spike. It turned out to be a lamp, but no-one wanted to point this out to him.  
"True." Said Buffy, disconnecting with Spike for a brief moment. "We have to make sure she doesn't get to Oz."  
"What we have to do," mumbled Giles, shakily standing up and leaning on Xander's shoulder for support, "Is summon Willow here. That way, she'll be distracted by us, and won't be able to, er… *get to* Oz."  
Xander, who had been mostly quiet for a while, oddly enough, spoke up. "Y'know, I keep thinking, `let's get Willow to do a spell, or look something up`, and then I remember she can't. And then I think that she might be gone forever."  
"She's still here." Frowned Anya. "She's just evil, that's all."  
"Well, that's even worse! She seems like she's here, but it's not her. It's not Will. It's like the anti-Willow. Mean, bad, nasty Willow. Billy Bo Bubba Bob Willow." Xander slumped into the chair a little more, noisily grabbing a biscuit from the bag on the table on the way down.  
"Oh, do feel free to take those." said Giles, pulling a face.  
"I already had three, weren't we meant to?" asked Anya.  
"I'd rather you hadn't…"  
"I can give them back, if you like."  
It was Xander's turn to pull a face. "Eww, Anya! That's gross! Why didn't I think of that?"  
"Hey hey hey! Whoever ate the last digestive isn't our top priority right now, remember?" said Buffy.  
"They were the digestives?!? I *really* didn't want you to eat those, I thought they were the custard creams!"  
"I had one of those, too…"  
"Oi!" yelled Spike, standing up carefully, as Buffy was still sat across his knee. "Now look, Slayer here is going to be pouty until we get back her friend, and I don't want that. So we have to get her un-demonised, now." He turned his face to Buffy's. "Not that I don't like that little pouty look…"  
"Up until the `pouty look` part, Spike actually made sense. We're getting distracted from the point of the meeting." snapped Giles, with a second attempt at a scowl. This one hit home, and the others looked down guiltily. "I want Anya and Xander to look for a vengeance demon summoning spell. I want Buffy and Spike to *get away from each other now* and to research a way of turning a demon back into their original form. It'll probably be to do with her power source, like it was with Anya, please check. And I'll…" Giles hesitated. It wasn't nice feeling useless.  
"You'll get some rest." said Buffy, gently helping him back onto the sofa, and placing the damp cloth back over his eyes.   
"Yes… I suppose I can't do much at all…"  
"I know you'll be here for us when the time comes."  
The jobs were assigned, the research began, and Anya grabbed the custard creams on the way out.  
  



End file.
